The Second Letter
to the Corinthians is the most personal of all of Paul's extant writings, and
it reveals much about his character. In it he deals with one or more crises
that have arisen in the Corinthian church. The confrontation with these
problems caused him to reflect deeply on his relationship with the community
and to speak about it frankly. One moment he is venting his feelings of frustration
and uncertainty, the next he is pouring out his relief and affection. The
importance of the issues at stake between them calls forth from him an enormous
effort of personal persuasion, as well as doctrinal considerations that are of
great value for us. Paul's ability to produce profound theological foundations
for what may at first sight appear to be rather commonplace circumstances is
perhaps nowhere better exemplified than in Second Corinthians. The emotional
tone of the letter, its lack of order, and our ignorance of some of its
background do not make it easy to follow, but it amply repays the effort
required of the reader.

Second Corinthians is rich
and varied in content. The interpretation of Exodus in chapter 3, for instance,
offers a striking example of early apologetic use of the Old Testament. Paul's
discussion of the collection in chs 8-9 contains a theology of sharing of
possessions, of community of goods among Christian churches, which is both
balanced and sensitive. Furthermore, the closing chapters provide an
illustration of early Christian invective and polemic, because the conflict
with intruders forces Paul to assert his authority. But in those same chapters
Paul articulates the vision and sense of values that animate his own apostolate,
revealing his faith that Jesus' passion and resurrection are the pattern for
all Christian life and expressing a spirituality of ministry unsurpassed in the
New Testament.

The letter is remarkable
for its rhetoric. Paul falls naturally into the style and argumentation of
contemporary philosophic preachers, employing with ease the stock devices of
the "diatribe." By a barrage of questions, by challenges both serious
and ironic, by paradox heaped upon paradox, even by insults hurled at his opponents,
he strives to awaken in his hearers a true sense of values and an appropriate
response. All his argument centers on the destiny of Jesus, in which a
paradoxical reversal of values is revealed. But Paul appeals to his own
personal experience as well. In passages of great rhetorical power
(⇒ 2 Cor 4:7-15;
⇒ 6:3-10; ⇒ 11:21-29;
⇒ 12:5-10; ⇒ 13:3-4) he
enumerates the circumstances of his ministry and the tribulations he has had to
endure for Jesus and the gospel, in the hope of illustrating the pattern of
Jesus' existence in his own and of drawing the Corinthians into a reappraisal
of the values they cherish. Similar passages in the same style in his other
letters (cf especially ⇒ Romans 8:31-39;
⇒ 1 Cor 1:26-31;
⇒ 4:6-21; ⇒ 9:1-27;
⇒ 13:1-13; ⇒ Philippians
4:10-19) confirm Paul's familiarity with contemporary rhetoric and
demonstrate how effectively it served to express his vision of Christian life
and ministry.

Second Corinthians was
occasioned by events and problems that developed after Paul's first letter
reached Corinth. We have no information about these circumstances except what
is contained in the letter itself, which of course supposes that they are known
to the readers. Consequently the reconstruction of the letter's background is
an uncertain enterprise about which there is not complete agreement.

The letter deals
principally with these three topics: (1) a crisis between Paul and the
Corinthians, occasioned at least partially by changes in his travel plans (⇒ 2
Cor 1:12-⇒ 2:13), and the successful
resolution of that crisis (⇒ 2 Cor 7:5-16); (2)
further directives and encouragement in regard to the collection for the church
in Jerusalem (⇒ 2 Cor
8:1-⇒ 9:15); (3) the definition and
defense of Paul's ministry as an apostle. Paul's reflections on this matter are
occasioned by visitors from other churches who passed through Corinth, missionaries
who differed from Paul in a variety of ways, both in theory and in practice.
Those differences led to comparisons. Either the visitors themselves or some of
the local church members appear to have sown confusion among the Corinthians
with regard to Paul's authority or his style, or both. Paul deals at length
with aspects of this situation in ⇒ 2 Cor
2:14-⇒ 7:4 and again in
⇒ 2 Cor 10:1-⇒ 13:10,
though the manner of treatment and the thrust of the argument differ in each of
these sections.

Scholars have noticed a
lack of continuity in this document. For example, the long section of
⇒ 2 Cor 2:14-⇒ 7:4 seems
abruptly spliced into the narrative of a crisis and its resolution. Identical
or similar topics, moreover, seem to be treated several times during the letter
(compare ⇒ 2 Cor 2:14-⇒ 7:4
with ⇒ 2 Cor
10:1-⇒ 13:10, and ⇒ 2
Cor 8:1-24 with ⇒ 2 Cor 9:1-15). Many
judge, therefore, that this letter as it stands incorporates several briefer
letters sent to Corinth over a certain span of time. If this is so, then Paul
himself or, more likely, some other editor clearly took care to gather those
letters together and impose some literary unity upon the collection, thus
producing the document that has come down to us as the Second Letter to the
Corinthians. Others continue to regard it as a single letter, attributing its
inconsistencies to changes of perspective in Paul that may have been occasioned
by the arrival of fresh news from Corinth during its composition. The letter,
or at least some sections of it, appears to have been composed in Macedonia
(⇒ 2 Cor 2:12-13;
⇒ 7:5-6; ⇒ 8:1-4;
⇒ 9:2-4). It is generally dated about the autumn of
A.D. 57; if it is a compilation, of course, the various parts may have been
separated by intervals of at least some months.

The principal divisions of
the Second Letter to the Corinthians are the following: